with handsome, long, narrow leaves and small clusters of beautiful 
pink and white flowers. It is the last of the Rhododendrons to bloom 
here, and the flower-buds do not open until the new branchlets have 
nearly finished their growth, so that the flower-clusters are a good 
deal hidden by them. 
The varieties and hybrids of the dwarf Rhododendron caucasicum 
bloom before the Catawbiense Hybrids, and the flowers have already 
faded. The latest of this race to flower, and perhaps the best of them 
all here, is a low, broad, compact plant with pure white flowers called 
Boule de Neige. This is a perfectly hardy, free-flowering plant which 
might to advantage be more generally planted in Massachusetts. 
Rhododendron carolinianum. Another year increases our admiration 
for this native of the slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains 
which is the handsomest of the small Rhododendrons in the Arboretum 
collection. It is perfectly hardy, the habit is excellent, and the leaves 
are very dark green above and rusty below. It flourishes in the full 
sun or in deep shade, and never fails to produce abundant crops of its 
clusters of pale rose-pink flowers. This is one of the . best of the 
broad-leaved evergreens recently introduced into our gardens. 
Rhododendron Smirnowii is a plant with which Americans interested 
in the cultivation of Rhododendrons would do well to become acquainted, 
for it is not only a beautiful plant but may prove exceedingly valuable 
in the production of a new race of hybrid Rhododendrons better suited 
for this climate than any which we now have. It is a native of the 
Caucasus and a large shrub with pale gray-green leaves coated below 
with a thick mat of pale felt, and large pink or rose-pink flowers in 
medium-sized clusters. The leaves are not as handsome as those of 
R. catawbiense and its hybrids, and when the plants are fully exposed 
to the sun the leaves sometimes curl up in very hot weather. The felt 
on their lower surface, however, protects them from the attacks of 
the lace-leaf fly from which other Rhododendrons suffer so seriously 
here. By crossing this Rhododendron with R. catawbiense or with some 
of the hardiest of its hybrids it may be possible to obtain plants 
superior to any now in our gardens. A Japanese species, 
Rhododendron brachycarpum, may also prove valuable for crossing 
with R. Smirnowii or R. catawbiense. This is a species of the high 
mountains of Japan, with large, dark green leaves and large clusters of 
very pale yellow flowers; it is an exceedingly rare plant in western gar- 
dens and does not appear to have been much cultivated by the Japanese. 
It was one of the plants brought from Japan in 1862 by Mr. Gordon Dex- 
ter of Boston and it grew ^ to a large size and flowered for many years 
in Francis Farkman's garden in Jamaica Plain. This specimen was 
later transferred to the Arboretum and is no longer alive. There are 
now seedling plants here, and there is no reason why this handsome 
species should not become common in American gardens. 
Chinese Cotoneasters. All the deciduous-leaved species of Chinese 
Cotoneasters have come through the winter without injury, and many 
of them are now covered with flowers. As a flowering plant C. hu- 
pehensis is perhaps the most beautiful, and of all the shrubs introduced 
by Wilson from China it is the handsomest or one of the handsomest 
when in flower. It is a broad, tall shrub with very slender arching 
branches which are now so covered with flowers that at a distance it 
